Kombucha: making a drink

Pick your recipe

Kombucha has several more names: cambuca, jellyfish due to its resemblance to jellyfish, Chinese mushroom. Kombucha drink is not only a good way to quench your thirst. The value of the drink is very high. One portion of it will benefit the work of the gastrointestinal tract, eliminate bloating, cure dysbiosis, lower blood pressure, reduce headaches and heartaches, and relieve insomnia.

Making the drink step by step

The recipe for a kombucha drink is very simple and will not take much time. We need the following products:

• pure water - 2 liters;

• tea mushroom;

• black, herbal or green tea - 4 teaspoons;

• sugar - 100 grams.

Now make a drink.

1. Mix the tea leaves with boiled water, let it brew for 15 minutes and cool.

2. In a tea can, put the mushroom, cover with gauze and place in a dark, warm place. The drink will be ready in 5-10 days.

3. Remove the cambucca from the can, rinse and dip in a new can with tea infusion. And the infusion prepared earlier can be drunk immediately, but you can make something like kvass from it. To do this, pour the drink into a glass container, close it tightly and leave it in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Please note: if the kombucha floats to the surface, then the cooking recipe is followed, went down - they made a mistake. Rinse the mushroom and start from the beginning.

There are several tricks to help you prepare a tasty and healthy drink.

• Tanks can only be used glass, in extreme cases, stainless steel. If you use, for example, metal dishes, the fungal acids will react with the metal. Plastic dishes can absorb odors, and if there are small scratches on its surface, then bacteria can settle in them. In addition, the storage capacity for the mushroom should be wide, for example, a three-liter jar, since Kombucha is growing.

• The jar should not be closed with a lid so that the mushroom can "breathe". Also, it should stand at a temperature of 25 ° C in a place where there is no direct sunlight. At low temperatures and the sun, the activity of Kombucha slows down and algae may appear.

• Tea infusion can not be made strong, it will slow down the growth of the fungus.

• Sugar must be dissolved very carefully, strain itself and be sure to cool. Sugar crystals and tea grains can cause burns on the fungus, and hot water will simply kill it.

• Rinse the mushroom from time to time with clean water.

• If part of the jellyfish has turned brown, carefully separate the damaged part and rinse the mushroom.

Proper use

This drink speeds up the digestion process and increases appetite, so do not mix it with food. After all, you risk eating more than usual. Therefore, you should use it as a kind of non-alcoholic aperitif half an hour before meals or 2-3 hours after. Drink kvass tea on an empty stomach in the morning - it will energize you. And if you drink it in the evening, then it will be easier for you to fall asleep.

How to grow homemade Kombucha

If you do not have Kombucha, you can either take it from friends, or buy it at a store. But it is best to grow it yourself from scratch. There are different ways to grow Kombucha: classic from tea and original from apple cider vinegar or rosehip infusion. Let's consider them in detail.

Mushroom cultivation from tea

This is the easiest way.

1. First brew strong tea in the proportions of 5 tbsp. tea for half a liter of water. Let it brew and cool to room temperature.

2. In the resulting infusion, add 5-7 tablespoons. sugar, stir well and strain into a three-liter jar well washed with soda.

3. Cover the jar with a lid, leave it in a warm place where there is light, but there are no drafts and direct sunlight.

4. In six weeks, the jellyfish will grow. Remove it from the can and transfer to a weak tea solution, the recipe of which is given above.

Rosehip infusion kombucha

1. Pour 4 tablespoons into a thermos rose hips and fill them with half a liter of boiling water. Close the thermos and leave for five days.

2. Five days later, pour the infusion into a wide container, then brew strong tea with a calculation of 1 tbsp. tea leaves on 1 tbsp. boiling water. Add this tea to the rosehip infusion.

3. Pour 5 tbsp into a container. sugar and dissolve it well. Leave the tea for a day and then strain.

4. Cover the container with infusion with gauze and leave in a warm place. The mushroom will grow in 1.5-2 months. A vinegar smell usually appears during this time. Do not be afraid, it only means that the fermentation process is successful.

Kombucha on apple cider vinegar

This method is very simple, despite its originality. He only needs good quality apple cider vinegar. Pour some vinegar into a glass bottle and leave it in a dark warm place for 2-2.5 months. A sediment will appear at the bottom, pour it into a prepared jar of sweet tea and wait another two or three weeks. During this time, a thin film will appear on the surface of the liquid, which later grows into a full-fledged Kombucha.